Sammy a sleeping giant who’s now living the dream

IT DIDN'T take long for the youngest Queensland Bull to find himself part of the herd this week.

First-gamer Sam Heazlett, at the ripe old age of 20, became the second youngest Queenslander to score a century on debut.

The youngest was Matthew Hayden, another left-hander who didn't mind scoring runs either.

Sammy's efforts in scoring 129 and 78 against the Tasmanians played a big role in the Bulls getting their opening win of the season after our first-up loss to Victoria.

It was as good a knock as I have seen from a young player. Composed at the crease, he made scoring look deceptively easy and batted with confidence that belied his tender years.

While there were plenty of off-season headlines about another talented bat in Jake Doran, an Australian U19 teammate of Sam's who shifted to Tasmania from NSW, plenty more judges will have added Sam's name to their "ones to watch" list.

When you spend as much time on planes as we do, everyone tends to have that moment when sleep beckons.

And when your eyes close, then you can become fair game for the more mischievous elements of the group.

It turns out that Sammy sleeps with his mouth open and several pieces of rolled-up paper managed to float in from a few rows back before he decided to wake up with a slight splutter.

The consensus was that was about the only time he wasn't 100% on top of his game for the entire trip.

It's not all high jinks and shenanigans mind you.

The trip back from Tasmania only came after a recovery session in the morning where we got ourselves started on the preparations for this weekend's first home game at the Gabba.

It has been a weird sort of season for us.

The Test has been run and won, and we are just getting set for our first Sheffield Shield game at our home.

The Redbacks are riding a bit of a youth-inspired form wave as well, so it is just as well we have turned to our biggest young talent for this game. Well, big in height anyway.

Fast bowler Billy Stanlake towers above most, and he will be hoping his debut follows a similarly successful path as that of Sam and Scott Henry the game before.

The giant Gold Coaster turned 21 last week and will be hoping his selection will be the ideal belated gift.

If Billy stands out because of his bowling performance and not just his physique, then we will probably have come out the other side of this game with a good result.